Taps for water and other fluids

ABSTRACT

A substantially cylindrical tap body for water and other fluids has an integral sideways-extending spout, and is open at one end to receive a separately formed tap headwork. The opposite end of the chamber, also open for fitting to a supply pipe houses internally a screwed-in component in cooperative engagement with a sleeve internally screw-threaded for screwing on to a supply pipe.

United States Patent Inventor Edward Moey Schaverien 6 Canons Drive Edgware, Middlesex, England Appl. No. 832,981 Filed June 13, 1969 Patented Dec. 28, 1971 Priorities June 28, 1968 Great Britain 30,974/68;

Sept. 3, 1968, Great Britain, N0. 41,790/68 TAPS FOR WATER AND OTHER FLUIDS 5 Claims, 12 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 137/327, 251/367, 251/368 Int. Cl Fl6k 27/00 Field of Search 137/315,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,947,257 2/1934 Fritz et a1 251/368 X 2,367,809 1/1945 Stein et al. 137/801 2,387,013 10/1945 Fuller 251/368 X 2,735,645 2/1956 Freed 251/368 X 2,797,701 7/1957 Nurkiewicz 251/368 X Primary Examiner-M. Cary Nelson Assistant ExaminerDavid R. Matthews Attorney-Young & Thompson PATENIEnnEc28|sn I 3.630.223

SHEET 1 or 5 v v v A ttorneys PATENTED [15228 197i SHEET 2 [1F 5 I Inventor ion n20 Masy 8cm VET/[IV A ttorneys PATENTEU [1EL'28 1911 v 3,630,223

sum u BF 5 A tlorneys PATENTEDBECZBIBYI 3.630.223

SHEET 5 OF 5 I rwenlor f0 WA RD Maiy JQHAMse/EN Bywr-J fm A Horney s TAPS FOR WATER AND. OTHER FLUIDS This invention relates to taps for water and other fluids, and is concerned more especially with taps intended for domestic use, or for use in hospitals, offices and the like.

The invention consists in a tap body comprising a chamber into which fluid flows when the tap is open, and an outlet pipe or nozzle associated with it, formed as a unit for attachment to and removal from the end of a supply pipe, without disturbing the installation of the pipe.

The invention also consists in a tap body comprising a chamber into which fluid flows when the tap is open, and an outlet pipe or nozzle associated therewith, the body being formed of a plurality of parts separately molded from. plastics material and secured together in assembly.

The invent-ion further consists in a tap body comprising a chamber into which fluid flows when the tap is open, and an outlet pipe or nozzle associated therewith, whereinthe body. is of laminated form, one or more outer layers being of molded plastics material. I

The various features of the invention will be clearly un-. derstood from the following description of forms thereof (given, however, merely by way of example), and this description will be 'morereadily followed by reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 represents in side elevation the body of a tap in ac cordancewith the invention;

FIG. 2 represents in side sectional elevation the tap body shown in FIG. 1, fitted to a supply pipe;

FIG. 3 represents an underneath plan view of the tap body shown in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 4 and 5 represent transverse sections of the tap body in the planes A-A and BB respectively in FIG; 3;

FIGS. 6 and 7 represent views corresponding to FIGS. 2- and 3, of an alternative construction of a tap body in accordance with the invention; I

FIG. 8 represents in side sectional elevation a mold and molding procedure according to the invention, suitable for use in making a tap body such as shown in FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 represents a side-sectional elevation of another tap in accordance with the present invention;

FIG..I represents an enlarged side-sectional viewof a part of the tap shown in FIG. 9; and

FIGS. 11 and 12 represent end views of the component shown in FIG. 10 seen respectively in the direction of arrows A and B.

In carrying the invention into effect in one convenient manner, as shown in FIGS. 1-5 of the aforesaid drawings, a tap body is adapted to be readily fitted to and removed from a tail" or supply pipe I mounted in a base 2 from which the supply pipe need not be detached for fitting the tap body. For this purpose one form of a tap body according to the invention is formed of a plurality of cooperating parts, all or most of which are molded from plastics material to which may be applied a metallic coating, e.g., ofnickel.

As seen in FIG. 2 a tap body may comprise a cylindrical chamber 3 open at its lower end, with an integral conical shoulder 4, from one side of which extends an integral tubular outlet or nozzle 5. This component 3, 4, is preferably molded as a unit, in suitable thermoplastic material.

The pipe I may be held in the support 2 by an upper base nut 6 with a downwardly projecting, inwardly screw threaded boss, engaged on the pipe I and extending into a suitable recess in the support 2, and an under clamp nut 7.

The cylinder 3 is internally screw threaded to receive a screwed-in retainer ring 8 apertured at its base. A securing nut slidable into the ring 8 and base nut 6 is internally screw threaded to screw on to the upper end of pipe I and has a flange cooperating with a step of the retainer ring 8 to hold down the ring and thus the tap body. An O-ring seal 11 accommodated in a groove of the securing nut 10 engages a smooth surface at the end of pipe 1. The securing nut may be molded fromhydrolysis-resistant nylon. The base nut and the retaining ring may be of glass-filled nylon, and the latter may be formed with grooves to receive flowed-in rubber gaskets 12 as seals with the body 3 and/or the securing nut I0. The head of the sealing nut is apertured at 14 and seated to receive a movable washer of the tap-operating mechanism by which the tap is opened and closed. The operating mechanism screws into the internally threaded neck of the conical shoulder of the tap body, and is preferably of the kind incorporating gearing, worm and rack means (which may be molded from plastics), as disclosed in British Pat. Specification No. 887,558. As will be explained more fully below the molded nozzle 5 may be formed with an aperture on its lower side, in which fits a plate 15 with a circular hole 16 and flow guide vanes 17 to complete the form of the nozzle. This plate may also be molded from suitable plastics materialand'held to the upper part of the nozzle 5 by screws I8.

Being made of a plurality of components requiring separate manufacture and assembly, the tap shown in FIG. 2 is comparatively expensive, and in accordance with another feature of the invention a modified form of tap, cheaper to produce, may be adopted, as illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7.

The principle of construction here employed is to mold successive components or layers of the tap body over one another. The supply pipe or stem 1 may be of brass tubing of standard form (although a plastics tube may alternatively be used), and its upper end is formed with a facing to serve as a seating for a tap washer (similar to passage 14 and its surround in FIG. 2). On to this stem is molded a cylindrical innner body 19 of suitable plastics material, e.g., glass-filled nylon with a side outlet. The stem 1 may be externally screw threaded, but over a length 20 of the tube is stripped of such screw thread and provided with knurling to key the inner body against rotation. Near to its lower end the inner body 19 is stepped, as at 21, and higher up is enlarged or ribbed, as at 22. Internally at its upper end this enlarged extension 22 on the stem 1 is screw threaded to receive the tap-operating mechanism (as described with reference to the body 4 shown in FIG. 2).

By a subsequent molding operation an outer tap body is molded on to the stem and inner body assembly. This outer body comprises an inner sleeve 23, rigidly associated with the inner body by virtue of the step 21 and rib 22, integral with an outer curtain" body formed with a lower cylindrical skirt 3 and an upper conical shoulder 4, with a sideways-projecting nozzle 5 in register with the side outlet of the inner body 19, and having an external appearance substantially identical with that shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The outer curtain" body may be of any suitable thermoplastics material. Acetal may be used since the inner body of nylon separates it from the brass stem and prevents dezincing of the brass. A preferred material for the outer body if it is to be chromium-plated is A.B.S. ans since the tap is closed at the top of the brass stem 1, this body is suitable for use with hot water, which on account of the brass stem 1 is kept away from the plastics body and does not weaken it.

A mold in accordance with the invention, for molding a tap body such as shown in FIG. 6, is illustrated in FIG. 8. A lower mold part 24 receives the stem 1, with the inner body 19 premoulded thereon, in a fixed core 26 with an upwardly projecting cylinder, surrounding, but spaced from, the inner body 19 to provide a mold space for the inner sleeve 23 of the outer body. The upper mold part 25 is recessed to form, round the inner body 19, a, shell defining the mold space for the outer parts 3, 4 of the tap body. Another fixed core 27 in the lower mold part 24 projects upwards into an extension of the recess in the upper mold part, and cooperates therewith to define the mold space for the part of the tap nozzle 5 integral with the body 3, 4. An L-shaped mold section 28 is removably fitted by one limb into a bore of the core 27, and its other limb extends to and through a preformed side hole in the inner body 19, in order to keep open a fluid passage through the inner end of the nozzle 5 when molded.

When the mold components are assembled as shown in FIG. 8, the plastics material forms the final tap body in the unhatehed areas of the figure defined by the cores and'mold parts. When the upper mold part is then raised the tap body and stem 1, together with the mold section 28 are lifted out of the lower mold part 24. When free, the mold section 28 can be moved in a direction parallel to the axis of its embedded limb in the nozzle bore (i.e., to the right as seen in FIG. 8) to a position where it can be removed downwards from the outer channel length of the nozzle. The tap body is then completed by attaching to it, under the outer channelled end of the nozzle, a separately molded plate 15, 16 as described above.

In another construction according to the invention shown in FlGS. 9-12 a tap body is formed by molding a substantially cylindrical body 50 with an integral, radially projecting outlet tube or nozzle 51 from a suitable plastics material. The outer end of the tube 51 is open, and has a short length 52 of reduced external diameter. The tube 51 may be of substantially rectangular internal cross section.

A separately molded component comprises an -L-shaped shoulder-piece tube 53 (FIG. 10) which at one end is of internal cross section corresponding to that of the tube 51 (as seen in FIG. 12) and is stepped, as at 54, to fit on to the reduced end-portion 52 of the pipe 51; and at the other end it terminates in a conventional circular outlet aperture 55. This shoulder component 53 is fitted to the end 52 of thetube 51 and secured thereto by any suitable means, e.g., by adhesive or by heat-welding.

The combined unit comprising the chamber 50, tube 51 and end shoulder piece 53 is then used as a core for applying externally (e.g., by molding thereon) an outer layer 56 of plastics or other material.

As described above the body may be molded on to a pipe 1; and the whole may be externally coated with metal. The inner body and tube and the shoulder piece may conveniently be molded from glass-filled, hydrolysis-resistant nylon or any other suitable plastics material which is hydrolysis resistant. The tap may be formed in a mold similar to that described above with reference to FIG. 8, and in all relevant features disclosed above may be adopted, or applied, in making a tap body as described with reference to FIGS. 9-12 (and building a tap therefrom).

From the above description it will be seen that the invention provides useful and effective forms of tap for fluid-flow control, but it should be understood that'the invention is not limited solely to the details of the forms described above, which may be modified, in order to meet various conditions and requirements encountered without departing from the scope of the invention.

What I claim is:

l. A tap body comprising a substantially cylindrical chamber having an integral outlet nozzle extending from its side, said chamber being open at Opposite ends, one open end being adapted to receive a separately formed tap-headwork fitted thereto, and the other open end being fitted internally with a first screw-threaded threaded component screwed therein, and a second screw-threaded component engaging said first component and adapted to be screwed to a fluidsupply pipe to which the tap body is to be fitted.

2. A tap body according to claim 1 wherein said first screwthreaded component is a ring screwed into the open end of said chamber, and said second screw-threaded component is a flanged sleeve slidably accommodated in said ring, and internally screw-threaded to screw on to a pipe.

3. A tap body according to claim 1 comprising sealing means compressed between said two engaging components, and sealing means fitted to said second component to serve as a fluid seal in contact with a supply pipe when the tap body is fitted thereto.

4. A tap body according to claim 1 wherein the body and nozzle are formed of molded plastics material.

5. A tap body according to claim 1 wherein the body and nozzle are formed of molded plastics material externally coated with metal. 

1. A tap body comprising a substantially cylindrical chamber having an integral outlet nozzle extending from its side, said chamber being open at opposite ends, one open end being adapted to receive a separately formed tap-headwork fitted thereto, and the other open end being fitted internally with a first screwthreaded component screwed therein, and a second screw-threaded component engaging said first component and adapted to be screwed to a fluid-supply pipe to which the tap body is to be fitted.
 2. A tap body according to claim 1 wherein said first screw-threaded component is a ring screwed into the open end of said chamber, and said second screw-threaded component is a flanged sleeve slidably accommodated in said ring, and internally screw-threaded to screw on to a pipe.
 3. A tap body according to claim 1 comprising sealing means compressed between said two engaging components, and sealing means fitted to said second component to serve as a fluid seal in contact with a supply pipe when the tap body is fitted thereto.
 4. A tap body according to claim 1 wherein the body and nozzle are formed of molded plastics material.
 5. A tap body according to claim 1 wherein the body and nozzle are formed of molded plastics material externally coated with metal. 